'Gail' is a really nice throwback to the kind of song that was recorded by the original ACG, or even Alice himself in the early days of his solo career. It's a very minimalistic, gothic song, which, for the most part, only has a harpsichord being played, before exploding into a slow rock song at the end. Prepare to have chills up the spine when you listen to it
As a piece of trivia, Gail is Cheryl's middle name
Kip Winger plays the keyboard on the song
02/03 (or 09/10 depending) – Gail (Cooper, Roberts, Winger)
"A tree has grown on the spot
Where her body did rest
Blood seeped in the soil
From the knife in her chest
The bugs serve time in her skeletal jail
I wonder how the bugs remember Gail
Oh, what a lovely young girl
Everybody would say
You can still hear her laugh
In the shadows on a cold winter day
A dog dug up a bone and wagged his tail
I wonder how the dog.. remembers Gail
The bugs serve time in her skeletal jail
I wonder how that I'll remember Gail"
The final track on the album is
'Roses On White Lace', a song which (for me) is filled with contradictions. The lyrics are truly chilling, but at the same time, they are strangely poetic. The vocal delivery is incredible, but I hate the use of the vocoder (or whatever is being used to create the effect). The tune doesn't need the 'million notes a second' during the song, but here it works.
It's incredibly catchy, and like the opening cut on the album, I cannot stop singing this song.
3/3 (or 10/10 depending) – Roses On White Lace (Cooper, Roberts)
"I saw you in your wedding gown
The prettiest dress
I came into your room that night
And made such a mess
In my own way, I lovingly kiss the bride
With your ring in your hand
Your eyes and your mouth open wide
In my eyes
Blood drops look like roses on white lace
They won't wash away
In my mind they're roses on white lace
Straight from the heart
So dead upon the bed
You hurt me in the deepest way
I'm crippled inside
I took your evil skin away
It's all cut and dried
I saw you tonight and carefully took your hand
With some smears on my cheeks
I knew that you'd understand
In my eyes
Blood drops look like roses on white lace
They won't wash away
In my mind they're roses on white lace
Straight from the heart
So dead upon the bed
Still searching for your head
Oh, they're never going to find your face
It's hidden away
I found a very special place where you used to play
In my own way, I lovingly kiss the bride
With your ring in your hand
Your heart and your mouth open wide
In my eyes
Blood drops look like roses on white lace
They won't wash away
In my mind they're roses on white lace
Straight from the heart
Blood drops look like roses on white lace
Crimson and sweet - stained on the sheet
Roses on white lace - pretty in red, dripping and wet
Roses on white lace - spilled on the walls, dark in the hall
Roses on white lace
Roses on white lace
Roses on white lace
(fade)"
The tour to promote the album was entitled 'The Live In The Flesh Tour', and the dates playing in Europe turned out to be extremely controversial for the graphic depiction of violence onstage. Most of the more violent acts were heavily inspired by the horror movies of the time, including the impalement gag from
'Prince Of Darkness' and large amounts of stage blood. The tour was considered to be so violent that when Alice played in Germany, the shows were censored, with various parts of the concert having to be removed. In addition to that, people under the age of 18 were turned away from the doors
In England, the Daily Mirror from April 1988 ran a story stating:
- 'An outraged MP last night called for the a ban on shock rock star Alice Cooper after his first British gig at which young fans fainted, threw up and were splattered with buckets of blood.
Outspoken Sheffield politician David Blunkett stormed: "I'm horrified by his behavior - it goes beyond the bounds of entertainment".
He added: "Its an indication of the sick society we're moving into and something drastic should be done to protect young people from paying for this sort of obscenity".
During the show there is a hanging sequence, a baby is torn apart, a mother sliced down the middle, and a beautiful girl has her throat cut.
At the climax of the one-and-a-half hour performance young fans in the front rows are soaked by gallons of theatrical blood.
But 40 year old Alice is unrepentant "Its nightmare In Elm Street [sic] put to music!" he said "Its a rollercoaster ride - a fast cheap thrill".
White Hot Club photographer Joe Bangay, who saw the opening night says: "I saw kids faint. Alice has gone too far".'
I suppose it's ironic that Mr. Blunkett has been blind since birth, and therefore could not have actually seen the show!
The touring band consisted of:
Alice Cooper – Vocals
Kane Roberts – Guitar
Johnny Dime (Arthur Funaro) - guitar
Ken Mary – drums
Steve Steele – bass
Paul 'Horrors' Horowitz - keyboards
Additional performers - Karen Russell, Lisa Oakley
UK dates were played between April 1st – April 12th 1988, and were at Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham, Wembley, Newcastle and Manchester. Support on the European leg came from Chrome Molly, although the US dates featured (amongst others) Guns N' Roses, Faster Pussycat and Motorhead as support
On the UK dates, serious injury was narrowly avoided at the Wembley dates. Kerrang magazine reported: [i]“Alice Cooper had a bad experience on the last night of his Wembley dates when the safety device failed on the gallows which Alice uses to perform on stage. A shaken and shocked Alice had to be cut free from the noose which had tightened around his neck and he suffered severe bruising on his neck as a result of the accident. Needless to say the man is such a professional that he continued with the full show despite his injury”[i/]
The basic setlist for this tour was:
- Teenage Frankenstein
- No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Billion Dollar Babies
- Is It My Body
- Eighteen
- Go to Hell
- Prince of Darkness
- Chop Chop Chop
- Gail
- Roses on White Lace
- Only Women Bleed
- Devil's Food
- The Black Widow
- Dead Babies
- Killer
- School's Out
- Freedom
- Under My Wheels
Sadly, there was no official video release of this tour, although rehearsal footage can be found on the second disc of the 'Prime Cuts' DVD. However, there is a
VERY rough audience recording of the show at Stockholm (April 16th, 1988) on YouTube
here . NOTE – For the Sweden shows only, 'He's Back' was played before 'Freedom' due to the fact it had been a big hit single the previous year